Which to use
“décédé” and “décédées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,068
- “décédé” frequency rank
- #34,995
- “décédées” frequency rank
- 39063
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décédé | décédées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mort. Qui a cessé de vivre. | Féminin pluriel de décédé. |
Same sound, different letters: décédé vs décédées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. décédé runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against décédées's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - décédé / décédées
This is the hard kind. décédé and décédées are pronounced identically (\de.se.de\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “décédé” sits inside “décédées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décédé is recorded at frequency rank #4,068, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\. décédées is at rank #34,995, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.se.de\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 39063, this pair ranks #250,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décédé vs décédées
Shared letters: cdé. Private to "décédé": -. Private to "décédées": es.
"décédé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "décédées" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décédé" and "décédées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "décédé" vs "décédées" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "décédé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "décédées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décédé" and "décédées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décédées vs décèdent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #250,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.